From Fallen Skies
by Neko Tsukimori
Summary: The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released. Begins more than 200 years before the events of the game. AU, OC heavy.
1. Moonfall

**Summary: The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**WARNING: Possibly several Mary Sues, vagueness, OOC-ness, and contradiction of canon. To mention a few things.**

**Feedback, especially criticism, is greatly appreciated.**

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><p><em>I was free, but my freedom did not last.<em>

_It seemed that merely seconds after life loosed its grip on me, I was weighed down once more. Life began again. I could sense nothing, nothing except for the hollowness, the feeling of incompletion. A hollowness that would soon be filled with creation, with life._

_This journey was one that started long before I arrived. Many of these stories are not mine, but simply deserve to be told._

_And so it began, in the cold and the clamor and the fright._

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><p>Tsukuyomi's eyes snapped open to a rumble that shook the city. Around her, the strips of light that ran across the room turned from blue to flashing red.<p>

_It's broken free. _A chill of terror pushed away the lethargy of meditation as she stood up and rushed to the window. In the distance, Tsukuyomi could already see the monstrous figure, taller than the tower itself. Even far away, its eyes burned into her, _Yamata no Orochi has escaped the Ark. _

The serpent reared up its eight heads, and Tsukuyomi could only watch as the walls of her city were torn apart as easily as thread. Already the escape rockets were being launched, comets blasting into the sky, carrying the youngest of their children away. She couldn't see how many would survive, or if they would even reach the earth. These children's futures held the destiny of their people, and yet they were so clouded.

Their defenses slowly began to activate, awakening from their long slumber to finally serve their purpose, but it was futile, Tsukuyomi knew. One of its heads gave off a visible current of electricity, and their defenses were useless, puppets with their strings cut away. The demon had taken out the main generators.

Tsukuyomi closed her eyes as the screams began, the cacophony of fear echoing into the blackness above. The guards would be there soon, she knew; they would try to calm the people, evacuate them while others held off the demon. Tsukuyomi wished that they would all make it safely to the ships and evacuate, that the guards would survive their battle. But there was the painful truth: she knew many of them would not. _If only… If only I could have seen enough to stop this…_ If only they had never been threatened to make this Ark.

Ever since the threats came disasters had fallen upon the Moon Tribe, one after another. Machines running rampant. A plague, forcing them to confine their mentors, the Tengu, within the Ark's depths, and now, this great serpent escaped from the Ark. And she had foreseen it all. She had seen, seen that red would stain the ruins of their home as this knowledge had stained her heart.

_Now I may only stand by and watch the future come to pass. _Tsukuyomi turned away, unable to watch her city crumble and become the ruins her visions had shown. There was nothing to be done as the ruler of the Moon Tribe. Even her brush, a weapon more powerful than anything the Moon Tribe could create, had been reduced to painting calligraphy.

She picked up her brush from the shelf of a canvas, then looked over to the small shrine. The city's most prized artifact, a double-edged sword, lay sheathed there, glimmering in that vibrant shade of blue that reminded her of the open skies and a place that, long ago, she had called home. A crescent moon, the simple emblem of their people, gleamed gold on its hilt. The blade's song called to her, beckoned her. It was time. Tsukuyomi hesitated for a moment, the knowledge of what would be done flashing again through her mind.

She unsheathed the sword and ran down to join the fight.

The clamor was deafening. The demon's roars, the guards' panicked commands, the people screaming in fear. Every weapon bounced off the monster's hide without leaving so much as a scratch. It let out a growl and one of its heads slammed downwards, smashing into the ground. Plumes of gray dust swelled up, and cracks spread out from the new crater the head had created. As the head prepared to swing again, the guards scattered, stumbling across the uneven ground.

Tsukuyomi ran towards the demon, drawing the sword above her head. Weight slammed down on her arm and she gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to buckle. The head snarled at her, thrashing against the flat of the blade. She pushed back, now holding up the sword with both hands. Slowly, it began to turn, the edge cutting into the beast's neck. The serpent gave a howl of pain and recoiled, the cut on its neck a single crack in its seemingly impenetrable armor.

Tsukuyomi dropped the sword, giving out a cry of horror as she looked at her hands.

Across each palm was a clean slice. Blood began to seep out of them, quickly forming a crust of red.

"No, no…" Her voice died away. Tsukuyomi knew of the sword, and even though her visions had shown her this fate it did not stop the terrible feeling of vulnerability. She swallowed, trying to keep back the panic that began to rise within her.

_Fall by its blade… _To be cut by it, to bleed, was a fate worse than death. The guards' captain looked back at her.

"Lady Tsukuyomi, are you alright?" She quickly hid her hands and picked the sword back up, nodding.

"How many have been evacuated?"

"Not many. The Ark is the only operational ship we have left." Tsukuyomi looked back at the monster, its heads all in disarray at one head's agony. There would be only a little time before it recovered. It didn't matter if the Ark was unsafe. It was a safer choice than to let her people stay and be slaughtered, her visions had shown her that.

"I can keep the demon distracted. Evacuate as many as you can to the Ark and set course for the Celestial Plain." The captain paused. Tsukuyomi held out the sword, struggling to keep her arms from shaking. "Give this to Ushiwaka. Under no circumstances must its edge be touched." The demon would not fall here, and she had not looked into its future, but someday it would fall by this sword. It must. The guard accepted the sword, worry obvious on his face.

"How will you…"

"Do not worry for me. Leave as soon as possible." Tsukuyomi turned to face the monster again, keeping herself between it and the retreating guards. The beast's scales gave off a golden aura, sealing over its wound. A barrier. The sword had pierced it, but nothing else she knew of would damage this demon. She swept a few loose black hairs away from her face with a trembling hand and crouched, studying the monster's movements. One of the heads snapped at her experimentally, and Tsukuyomi sidestepped it, but didn't predict the burst of water spat by another head. Tsukuyomi ducked down, not quite fast enough, and felt the jagged thorns of ice tear shallow gashes in her back. She bit back a cry, and the blue, water-spitting head gagged, freeing its mouth from the ice. The fiery orange head hissed at her, renewed hatred clear in its eyes.

There was a rumbling, not much unlike the growling of the demon closing in on her, as the Ark began to slowly lift off. The monster turned, all eight pairs of eyes focusing on the source of the noise. One of the heads hissed and lightning crackled, spilling out from between its jaws. Tsukuyomi smiled weakly._ At least there is something I can use. _She drew out her brush, its tip already wet with ink, and in moments the lightning was arcing back across the heads. As they writhed, the Ark soared out of reach, picking up as much speed as it could as it drew away from the Moon. The demon shook off the electricity, already refocusing on her. Weaponless and alone, Tsukuyomi ran.

She slumped against the side of a corridor, hearing the demon's roars grow closer. She held still, tensed. There was another roar, fainter this time, and then silence. The demon had lost her. Her people were safe. She tried to tuck the brush back, but it slipped through unresponsive fingers. Tsukuyomi couldn't feel her arms, and the numbness was spreading further, up her neck. She felt so tired…

_No. _Tsukuyomi struggled to keep her eyes open._ Orochi might come back. _She shivered as her vision blurred.

Her mind was clouding, slipping away from the present. She saw, far away and far ahead in time, a cave, and could see a majestic white wolf with red markings, glowing bright as the sun. Its name, a name she should know, one of family, now evaded her in this dreamlike trance. Tsukuyomi saw the demon, its eight heads, saw it lunge, and could see as the white vanished beneath red. Her eyes slipped closed.

_It feels so cold…_


	2. Daybreak

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Sudden scene change! Bear with me… Or don't.**

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><p>Shin sat cross-legged, eyes closed, listening to the voices of the Celestial Plain. They never ceased, never quieted, always staying within his mind. They were the voices of every plant, every flower, every living thing that existed upon the Plain.<p>

_Giant… _The panicked birds' voices from the sky turned his attention.

…_Flying closer… _Shin opened his eyes and looked at the new creature in the sky. It was too far away for him to tell what it could possibly be, save for its size and unfamiliarity to the birds. _Flight, flight!_ The birds were a dark cloud swirling away from it. Shin closed his eyes again and reached out, and the birds' voices became a picture.

_Alien, foreign… _The giant flying creature was oddly shaped, bearing no trace of wings or any way to keep itself in the air. And yet it glided steadily forward, towards the Plain, letting out a constant, rumbling growl. It was not close enough for him to hear its voice. He could only wait. Shin kept his eyes closed and slipped off into the stream of voices.

_Thump-thump._

Shin came back to consciousness with a jolt. When he opened his eyes—how much time had passed?—the creature was much closer, almost upon the Plain. _Will it land here to roost?_ Its smooth, grayish skin glimmered in the sunlight, almost like a salamander, and veins of blue light pulsing across the surface. Its voice murmured too quietly for Shin to discern the words, and beneath it were many different voices. _Has it brought young?_

_Thump-thump._

This wasn't right.

He could hear its heart beat in his mind as strong as any voice, a soft, dark beat. He didn't know why, but he wanted no creature with a heart like that to come near the Plain. It wouldn't stop, though. It wouldn't hear him, just like all the other voices. Somehow, its appearance seemed familiar… Shin could remember hearing a dream of a creature like this, so long ago. He remembered someone like him yet so unlike, someone who had been with him during the earliest part of his immortal life...

A sister. Yes, his sister. Her name was Tsukuyomi, wasn't it? She had gone off far away, to the Moon. Shin had heard her imaginings, and she had said she would create a city, a place full of people like her. She could create, she could do things that he could not. And Tsukuyomi, from the few things he could remember, had never seemed to fit within the Plain as he had. She had seen things, places he never knew existed. It frightened her at first, but then one day she had began to think of visions and the Moon and destiny.

And then she had left.

But Shin still wished he could see her again, hear her voice not in his memories but aloud, responding to his own.

Was she returning?

"Tsukuyomi," Shin tested the sound of the name, his own voice a strange sound. Someone was coming here. Someone who could speak but also respond. Not like the voices of the Plain. They were constant, but he could speak all he wanted and they would not, could not listen.

Finally the creature landed—the plants beneath it yelped—, its maw slowly opening.

For a moment there was nothing, and then a mass of people spilled out and the voices in Shin's head flared. The plants cried out where they were stepped on, the Plain erupted with wails of disturbance. Shin winced, staring at the mass of people milling around outside the creature, trying to recover his own thoughts from the blur of voices. Didn't they realize what they were doing? Shin tried to articulate his outrage, assemble his thoughts into words, but it was a useless endeavor through the uproar inside his mind. One person approached Shin directly and bowed to him, and received a puzzled stare in response.

"I'm sorry, this must all be very startling for you. I am Sugawara of the Moon Tribe." Shin stared blankly ahead, his vision beginning to blur as the Plain forced their senses on him. _Moon… Tribe? From the Moon._ "We are a peaceful people, governed by your sister, Tsukuyomi." _Sister. Where is she?_ Sugawara glanced briefly away before continuing. "Not long ago the Moon Tribe was attacked by a powerful demon, and we were forced to flee. This place was the nearest sanctuary we knew of." Shin couldn't understand. What was he saying? Even Sugawara's mind only recited the words back, meaninglessly, again and again. "May we stay here for a little while, at least until we can find a new place to live?" A question. At this Shin focused on Sugawara, trying to force the blur away. Sugawara wanted him to answer. Shin hoped his voice would work.

"Stay here." Shin stumbled over the words. Tsukuyomi had come back and brought these people. Of course they could stay. "...Please." He added belatedly. Sugawara smiled briefly—Shin sensed that he had said the right words—and turned to walk back towards the crowd. Another, younger one of the Moon Tribe stopped him, but Shin could not understand the voices of their mouths, only those of their minds. Their minds spoke of someone left behind, someone they believed would never return. Shin couldn't see a trace of the black hair he looked for within the crowd of blonde. "Where is Tsukuyomi?" Sugawara stopped.

His mind had fallen quiet. The other person was holding a blue object—a glaive, that was what they called it—with two red stains on one edge of the blade, and somehow it held pain with it. He was saying something, still in the language that Shin could not understand, but the voice of his mind was enough. Tsukuyomi. There was a creature that attacked the Moon, she was fighting it off. The sword had been her weapon. The Moon Tribe left. She did not. Sugawara bowed his head.

"We are very sorry for your loss." Loss. Disappearance. Shin felt them echoed in every mind of the Moon Tribe. He could see faces of people he did not recognize, that he knew would not be found among the crowd. These feelings were foreign to him. They were pained, and Tsukuyomi… Where was she? Wasn't she coming back?

Gone, not here, lost. Not coming back.

She would never be here, their thoughts told him. The blur whirled in confusion. Never here, but she was here, her people were here so she had to be, leading them... Didn't she? Shin dimly heard himself saying the same words over and over.

_She's gone, she's gone. _Meaningless words for an empty void that seemed to have opened where his sister had been. Shin didn't try to keep the blur away. Within the voices of the Plain and the Moon Tribe and the others that had come, there was still the emptiness. Tsukuyomi had known what to do to stop it, hadn't she? But he couldn't fill the void, couldn't create like her, didn't have anyone but the voices that never listened and just kept speaking, speaking into a blur.

This time the flowers listened.


	3. Eventide

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Last chapter, we were introduced to Shin, the Moon Tribe arrived at the Celestial Plain, and we have yet to stick with a POV character for more than one chapter.**

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><p>Waka was in a sitting position, meditating, attempting to divine answers.<p>

_Who had wielded the Tsukuyomi? _Waka asked himself as he stared blankly at the sword in question. Tsukuyomi. The name was the only thing he'd recovered from his faded memories of the attack.

_What was the demon they fought? _In his memory he only had the ache, the feeling that he had known, but the knowledge was now buried away. He didn't know how he'd lost the knowledge. He closed his eyes, attempting to find an answer, some glimpse of the future, but no vision came. No success, as always. He shouldn't have asked so much about the past, anyway. Visions wouldn't show that. And if the memories were still buried, no amount of meditation would recover them.

Waka opened his eyes again and stood up, looking again at the sword where it lay unsheathed on a table. Though there were strict instructions—given by who, Waka didn't know—that the blade should not be touched and so was never cleaned, not a single speck of dust could be seen on its surface, and the stains on both edges of the blade looked as though they were still moist. Waka gave the sword one last glance before exiting the small hut—one of many things that had appeared after their arrival.

"The Celestial Plain is beautiful, isn't it?" One of the Moon Tribe, now wearing a white robe-like cloth, greeted him. "I hope you've enjoyed visiting our home."

"Don't you remember the Moon?" Waka asked out of reflex, even though he knew the confusion he would receive in response. To tell the truth, he didn't remember much of the Moon either, not after the years they had spent here. He glanced around. Even more of the Moon Tribe were dressed in the same white clothes.

Waka saw Sugawara navigating his way through the crowd towards him and silently thanked him for keeping them both sane. Sugawara's expression was even more solemn than usual.

"The ship is now operational."

"Do you have to leave?" Waka looked up at him. "I don't want to be the last one who still remembers."

"Do not worry. Soon, you will be leading the Moon Tribe—no, the Celestials. I know you will not fail." Sugawara gave a small smile. "Keep practicing what you have learned." Waka nodded, and watched his mentor walk away towards the shuttle that would take him to the mortal plain. When he felt too pained to stay any longer, he hurried away, not caring where he was going, just anywhere away, away from everything.

Waka didn't know how he'd ended up at the edge of the Plain, or why it looked so different. Where there should have been blue sky below the edge, instead it tipped off into a strange, shadowy plane. The sweet scent of flowers, before unnoticeable, had vanished. The depths seemed to call to him, and then everything else was just a simple distraction of colors against the shade of the void. Hypnotized, he reached out to trace the line between the light and the darkness when a hand caught his wrist.

"Don't." Shin's voice came from behind him. Waka freed his hand and turned to face his friend, grinning. Shin remained unusually serious. "You nearly reached into Yomi, the land of death." Waka's smile vanished as he glanced again at the edge. With every inch of space in the Plain covered in color, the shadowy, empty space now looked unnatural. Waka cradled his hand, feeling a sudden chill. "Is this what gone means?" Shin whispered to himself.

The wind began to blow gently, carrying the scent of flowers. Waka felt his fear slip away, and then there was only calm. Shin was staring at him with wide worried eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm fine."

When he returned to the hut he immediately slipped back into meditation, and the vision struck him. He could see the demon, a picture now clear in all its terror, and its name came to his mind.

_Yamata no Orochi. _The rest of the scene was coming into focus. He could see the Celestial Plain, the demon ravaging it with fire, poison, and darkness… Waka squeezed his eyes further shut as though that would block out the future he had seen, but that only made it clearer. The time was coming closer, he knew, and now with the demon's name he could try to find answers.

_When will Yamata no Orochi attack the Celestial Plain? _He only saw more images of the future, of the sword Tsukuyomi, to be wielded by a man in white armor against the demon. That was when it would be defeated, and that was how. But Waka pushed the images away and continued searching for an answer.

A faint roar came from outside and his eyes snapped open.

_It's too late._

Orochi was already here.


	4. Skyfall

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Before the chapter ending so rudely cut us short, where were we… Oh yes, we were introduced to Waka, who doesn't seem to be anything like the canon Waka we know and love, and Orochi was attacking the Celestial Plain. Let's see how that goes…**

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><p>"To the Ark!" Waka heard himself shout the warning, leading the mass of panicked Celestials inside. Even as he did, he could only think of the dangers within their only means of survival. <em>We never knew who wanted the Ark or anything inside it, but it was built to house demons. So far the walls have kept them trapped, but…<em> Outside, Orochi's roar sounded louder and closer than before, and Waka motioned for the remaining Celestials to hurry._ Please don't let the demons escape now... _The last of the Celestials hurried into the Ark. Shin gave one last glance back at his home, seeing a flicker of flame across the fields before the Ark's closing door obscured the Plain from sight.

Waka rushed through the corridors of the Ark, the sounds of Orochi's roars growing far too loud for comfort. The ship's halls were like a dark, dank labyrinth. Waka dashed towards one path, then stopped, peering into the darkness. The path led towards the center of the Ark, where most of the greater demons had been contained—_like Orochi, _he thought.

Waka turned back and took a different path. Another turn, and Waka sighed in relief, rushing to the control panel. Orochi roared again, while he frantically looked over it, trying to recall something, anything, about how to operate machinery. The engineers hadn't bothered to label anything, and now they were… unable to recall themselves. Waka pressed a few buttons and the Ark's engines gave a rumble as they started. The lights flickered on, bathing the corridors in bright blue. Shin walked through the doorway seconds later, staring at one blue current of light.

"Where is Ark going to take us?" Waka would have been amazed at how Shin could seem so calm, except he saw that glazed look in his eyes that always came over him when the voices in his mind were too overwhelming.

"We have to go to the mortal realm." Shin began to look more alert, so Waka continued. "I had a vision. That's where the chosen one will be, the one who can defeat Orochi." The Ark finally lifted off, painfully slow.

Shin watched silently as Waka experimentally flipped a switch, causing two view-screens to blink on in front of them. One screen showed the sky in front of them, the other, the land they were leaving behind. Shin saw the devastation of fire spreading across the Plain, hearing the voices that were always in his mind growing slowly quiet. Pieces of the once vast land were crumbling away, and Waka saw a flash of brilliant blue in the falling rubble. He quickly flipped off that view-screen, sneaking a worried glance at Shin, who seemed adrift in a place far away, straining for the voices of life that he had always heard.

"It's so quiet." Shin said, his own voice sounding unnaturally loud. The only response to him was the beating of the Ark's dark heart pounding in his ears. The Celestials were barely a murmur in the background, too far, too soft.

_Thump-thump_.

As the beat filled up the silence its darkness began to fill his vision, creeping into the edges. There was nothing else. The voices were fading and the thumps of Ark's heart pounding were all he could hear. He latched onto the murmur of life coming from Waka and slowly the noise, the darkness, began to recede into the background. Waka felt a flash of worry for the Celestials, trapped within a house of demons as their only sanctuary against the one demon that escaped.

"I'm going to check on our passengers, okay?" He set the Ark's controls to autopilot—at least he'd remembered that—and moved towards the hallway, his hand straying for the sword at his belt.

"Don't leave." The words were spoken softly, as though Shin did not believe they would be heeded. A crash resounded through the corridors of the Ark and for a moment it wobbled, unsteady in the air. Waka ran back to the control panel as one of the main engines shorted out, frantically trying to find the backup engine. He glanced back at the corridor nervously. The source was somewhere within the Ark.

Shin could feel the lives of the Celestials flickering out, one by one.

"Why are they leaving? We're safe, where are they…" Shin choked back a sob. "They're gone." Vanishing, into Yomi, into nowhere, but why couldn't they stay a little longer? He just didn't want to be alone.

Was Waka going to leave him too?

_The demons. _The guilt was a stab in Waka's chest. He'd assumed Shin had known already. Why had he thought escape would be so easy? Now the Celestials were paying for his mistake.

A terrified scream just outside, somewhere within the corridors, snapped him back to reality. There was another, last scream of pain, followed by an unfamiliar, unsettling felt the Celestial's life, this one so close to them, fade. For a moment there was another high-pitched laugh, then the sickening sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh. Shin whimpered, covering his eyes as if that would block out the Celestials' fate, a fate all too visible to him. Waka sealed the corridor doors.

Another crash, and the Ark lurched. Shin closed his eyes, feeling suddenly weak, and tried to imagine he was somewhere safe, but there was only sky all around and now that scared him. A moment passed, and Shin tried to recover himself in within a deafening silence. An alarming beep from the control panel drew their attention to the view-screen.

_Thump-thump._

"We're falling." Waka began to search the panel, but to no luck. The last of the power currents had been cut off from the engines. There was nothing to stop their fall. He looked up at the view-screen. There was the blue of a lake in front of them, but Waka had no time to think about that before the Ark shook as it hit the water. The view-screen sparked and shut off. The walls creaked dangerously from the pressure of the water around them.

Shin looked around, seeing a cracks open up above them, letting water inside. There was water above and water below, something strange, but he knew what to do in water at least. Waka's thoughts were anxious. Shin looked over at him, worried.

"Please tell me you can swim." Waka opened his mouth to answer when the walls gave and a torrent of cold water came rushing in. Waka struggled against the deluge, against the water that trapped him. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't move. Waka tried to breathe, but only water filled his lungs. He felt a sense of panic, struggling to reach for his Water Tablet. He couldn't move, all sense of direction lost in this strange place where his senses would not work and his limbs became sluggish.

_Wasn't supposed to inhale water,_ Waka thought as his vision began to dim, _not good for the lungs._ He faintly felt hands pulling him, could almost make out a blurry light above.

Waka broke the surface, coughing out water, gasping and weak, his eyes stinging. Shin was paddling next to him, trying to keep them both afloat. Shin drew out his brush, and in moments they were both atop a large lily pad.

Behind them, shadows spiraled out of every crack in the sinking hull of the Ark. Demons. Some of them materialized on the lakeshore, quickly moving away from the lake. The rest floated high into the sky, spreading out so that the whole sky seemed streaked with darkness. The wind gusted, blowing the lily pad towards the shore. Waka wrapped his arms around himself, shivering, unable to keep away the chill. Looking back at the Ark, he sobbed, but only felt numb inside.

The lily pad drifted on towards the shore, and only now did he realize that snow was falling, so tranquil even as the Ark, the last remainder of the Moon Tribe, sank beneath the water. Once they were ashore Waka stumbled, drained, towards the shapes that vaguely resembled buildings.

_They're dead. The Moon Tribe… They're all dead. _He still felt nothing, no ache of sadness, nothing but the cold around them. He could hear the horrible sound of tearing metal, two mechanical screeches, then wing beats, rising away from the fallen Ark as the lake claimed it. Waka saw shapes moving towards him, heard voices speaking but could not understand, and the world was falling away, growing dark. He felt himself collapse, and then nothing.


	5. Waning Gibbous

**Summary: The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Last chapter, Orochi attacked, everyone ran away, lots of people died, the Ark crashed into a lake.**

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><p>Waka opened his eyes.<p>

_Where am I?_ He sat up and looked around the unfamiliar hut. Fur strips of some sort hung on the walls, and there was a fire crackling in the hearth across from him, giving warmth to the room. It had been so cold before… _The lake_. The Ark had crashed, Orochi had attacked…

Waka suddenly became aware of the muffled sounds outside. Screeches like demons, the same voices he'd heard—some other language—before he'd fallen unconscious. But loudest of all was the baying of wolves alongside them. There was a battle going on outside. Whatever people lived in this place, they were fighting the demons. And the wolves… Whose side were they on?

There was a rustle of furs as a white wolf padded through the doorway. Its fur was swirled with red markings. Bright eyes stared at Waka, and he looked back, studying the creature. _Is this what a wolf looks like? I didn't think those patterns…_ The wolf gave a high-pitched bark and scampered over to him, half-hopping in excitement. He fidgeted, confused at why such a noble-looking creature was acting like an overexcited child. Maybe Shin would've known what to do, being able to hear minds, but...

_Wait, where is Shin? _An icy wave of fear washed over him. _No one else survived…_ He remembered now, the sword, he'd left it behind and it was gone now. He was lost in the mortal world, Shin wasn't here, and Orochi could strike at any time. There would be no hero to slay Orochi, not now. Waka curled up and put his head down, feeling the full weight of his failure begin to sink on him. The wolf tilted its head, whining a little, and then began to paw at Waka's hair.

"H-hey! Stop that!" Waka tried to push the wolf's paw away. It stopped, sat down, and then fur became skin and Shin was sitting there in its place. "…Um." Shin blinked.

"Your thoughts sound very contradicting. Why do you-"

"You're alive!" Waka interrupted. _And you can turn into a wolf?_ Shin tilted his head at the sudden change of topic, but recognized that Waka really didn't want to talk about it. Whatever "it" was.

"The mortal world is trying to force me into a wolf form. I don't know why. It's difficult to stay human… And when I'm a wolf I can't hear anyone think..." Shin tried to keep his mind focused, away from the strange wolf thoughts that kept pushing in. "The people here, the Oina tribe, think I'm one of them. They change shape too, also into wolves, but… they can control it better." Waka was silent, thoughtful. Shin decided to speak his own mind. "I think we should stay here. Just for a little while. Maybe the Oina can help me control this…" Shin trailed off, listening.

"Have you seen Orochi since the crash?" Shin closed his eyes. Of course. Should've known…

"It passed overhead a day after the crash." He remembered, golden scales flashing overhead and the Oina's confused murmurs, frightened cries as it had blocked out their sky and then disappeared into the distance as quickly as it had come. "Please don't go…"

"I need to." Shin hung his head. "I need to find Tsukuyomi..." Waka paused. "The sword." It was beginning to come back to him. Tsukuyomi meant something else, something that wasn't a sword at all… Why couldn't he remember? "I'm sorry, Shin. I can't stay here and let Orochi destroy the mortal plain too." Even if it meant leaving him behind.

"I… understand." Shin spoke softly, his voice wavering. "On the south edge of the village there is a tunnel. It leads to the place Orochi has gone." Waka nodded. Shin watched silently as he left the hut.

The snow was still falling outside. Waka looked around at the night sky, glowing with stars, the last light of day still lingering on the horizon. He began to walk, the snow crunching under each heavy step.

After a while of walking, he stopped and looked up at the Moon. For the first time he saw its surface clearly, pockmarked with craters—Orochi's destruction. That used to be his home. And there was someone there, someone they had to leave behind… No ordinary person of the Moon Tribe, someone much more important.

Tsukuyomi. Their leader, their brave leader, who had faced down Orochi herself to let them escape.

She was dead now. What was the point in remembering? Waka walked on. There was an entrance of grey stone ahead. _That must be the tunnel._

The Moon stared down at him. Waka stopped and, hardly thinking about it, pulled out his flute. He began to play. The melody soared up into the quiet night sky, a message to all of those who had been left behind. In the distance, a wolf howled, a grieving harmony to the flute's song. A moment passed, and Waka lowered the flute from his lips. The last notes died away.

Silence filled the air. Loneliness weighed down on him even heavier than before.

He kept walking.


	6. High Noon

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Last chapter, Waka wakes up in Kamui, realizes Shin has turned into a wolf, and then leaves. Yeah, that's about it.**

**Hooray, travel scene that isn't a montage. Though that might make it better. I know that there was no Agata Forest canal, but I couldn't think of another way to get Waka from Kamui to Sei'An City (because we know he gets there). Onward we march…**

* * *

><p>When Waka stopped the sky was blue and cloudless, and the sun flooded the field with light. After exiting the tunnel there was no more snow, just a half-built structure of stone. The sign nearby identified this place as Shinshu Field.<p>

Why did he feel so uneasy? Cautiously, Waka stood up, keeping a hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes sweeping the field for threats. There was a flicker of yellow, and then Waka spotted the scroll floating around the shadows of the field. The whole strip of parchment was a sickening yellow, and the lower end of the scroll was ragged and blackened as though it had been charred off. Two orbs of demonic flame circled around the scroll as it drifted through the air. Waka slowly began to step away.

Then he realized that there was not only one such scroll but many, floating around the outskirts of the field. He took another step backwards and his shoe caught on something. All of the scrolls snapped to face him, drawing slowly out of the shadows. Waka took one look at the advancing scrolls and ran. Ducking around another scroll, he saw what seemed to be another tunnel and dashed towards it. He didn't need to look behind him to know that the scrolls were following, relentless in their chase.

Waka neared the cave, only to see that it was a tunnel, with a pool of water instead of a floor. Without a second thought, he activated the Water Tablet, hoping it would still work after being submerged in an icy lake, and stepped onto the surface of the water. He didn't immediately sink, and so he ran into the tunnel, hoping the scrolls wouldn't follow.

After a few steps, Waka paused and looked back. The scrolls hovering outside of the tunnel slowly dispersed, returning to their drifting. Sighing in relief, he continued through the tunnel at a slower pace. Not far in front of him he could see the other end of the tunnel. Reaching it, he vaulted up, pulling himself onto the platform. He stood up and walked out, pausing to reorient himself.

From the hill he had walked out onto, he could see no scrolls in the valley below. Waka followed the footpath down the hill, stepping around the trees—they were mostly small saplings. When he reached the crossroads, Waka saw only one path towards the general direction Orochi had travelled, labeled "Taka Pass". He followed the footpath until he had reached a wooden bridge, creaking with strain from the rushing water underneath it.

Once he had gone over the unsteady bridge, Waka could see slight differences in the landscape. There were different trees, and green grass covering all of the ground except for the familiar footpaths. Tall mountains rose into the horizon.

A flutter of paper in the corner of his eye made him tense. There were more scrolls. Waka stepped slowly and carefully along the footpath, hoping not to draw their attention. When he came to an intersection he stopped, studying the signs placed there before glancing in the direction pointed out by one to be towards "City Checkpoint". There was a small bridge, and the path continued beyond it, but Waka couldn't see through the scroll lazily floating above the bridge. A city. It looked familiar, from the glances he could catch around the scroll. Had he seen it in a vision?

There had to be something in the city. Maybe the sword had fallen there. Waka took another glance at the scroll, watching it turn circles in the air and waiting. He braced himself and dashed for the other side of the bridge.

The scroll roared furiously and dove for him. Waka kept running, the frightening possibilities of what it might do to him racing through his mind. He could almost feel the heat of demonic fire so close to his skin and whirled around, drawing his sword. The blade only glanced off of the scroll, and Waka watched helplessly as the fire touched his skin.

The scroll vanished in a swirl of characters that formed a cloudy red barrier around him. The city was out of reach, hidden behind characters of words he had not been taught to read. Their meanings began to push themselves, burrowing into his mind the more he watched them. Death. Disease. No desperation for escape would persuade him to touch that barrier. A group of the characters clustered in the center, forming into a hunched humanoid shape.

The demon attacked first, running at him with surprising speed. Waka remembered his sword, and fumbled for the correct parry. The demon swiped at him and his sword blocked it, but then the next swipe caught his arm and he was stepping away, shakily keeping the sword between him and the demon. It snarled again, and Waka noticed its fangs spattered with blood and… He felt suddenly nauseous. This thing had… the Celestials… The demon batted away his sword and prepared to swipe him again.

Where was the wind coming from? The demon made a high-pitched noise, hesitating for a minute, and Waka would have stepped back except the barrier was right behind him, humming images of death. The wind suddenly because a gale, forcing the demon to crouch against the ground. He had to kill it to break the barrier. Waka lifted his sword, trying to stop his arms from trembling. Just like practice. One stab. He stepped closer. It was still paralyzed by the wind, clawing at the air as though that would make it stop.

Waka closed his eyes and stabbed. He felt the sword sink into something, heard a loud screech—too much like the Celestials' cries of pain—and when he opened his eyes the barrier was gone. When he opened his eyes, the demon was gone, and a cluster of colorful flowers bloomed from the ground. He sheathed his sword with trembling hands, nearly dropping it, trying to ignore the coating of dark blood.

He had to keep moving. Go to the city. With each step he took, Waka's legs felt as though they would give in. _Just keep walking._ Anything to get further away from that spot. It was like the death hum of the barrier had bored its way into his mind. The scrolls did not come near, fended off by the wind that still gusted around him.

He'd killed. Each step seemed heavier than the last.

_Just keep walking…_


	7. Half Moon

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Well, last chapter Waka walked all the way from Shinshu Field to City Checkpoint, killed a demon, and then was promptly traumatized by the experience. **

**The killing, not the walking.**

**…I think.**

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><p>"Halt!" The voice hardly registered to Waka. After a moment he stopped his mindless trudging—towards the city, just keep walking—and looked up. He'd almost reached the city, the entrance was just a few steps away…<p>

…Was someone speaking? Oh, yes. Two people stood guard, blocking the entrance.

"Who are you?" Waka stared back vacantly, his mind hardly translating the words.

"My name is Ushiwaka." The guards turned to each other and quietly exchanged a few words.

Waka only heard a little: "This must be… she said..." One of the guards turned back to Waka. "Follow me. The Queen is expecting you." Queen? Slightly puzzled, Waka followed the guards into the city, again focused only on his own steps.

Whenever he glanced up people looked at him with stares of curiosity. Suddenly he felt nervous, under so much scrutiny, and returned to looking down at the cobbled streets of the city. Waka could hear murmurings.

"…They say the Queen's been waiting for someone…"

"…Won't let the gates close…"

"…Hope the demons don't come for us…"

Then they passed through a small building, and crossed a long bridge. Waka looked around. There were fewer buildings in this part of the city, but they were larger, more ornate, with bridges connecting each one. Fewer people could be seen.

The guards led him to the entrance of one of the buildings, grey stone, walled off from the other buildings by that same stone, that towered above even the other buildings of this part of the city.

_This must be the palace. _The two guards had walked off while Waka stood taking in the sight, leaving him to enter the palace. He decided to walk inside.

The palace halls were bustling with priestesses, and he received no more stares than he would have on the Moon. He wondered if they had known he would be arriving here. When he asked for directions, the priestess bowed, and led him up a set of stairs to what had to be a throne room.

"It is an honor to meet you. Inside this room, the Queen awaits." Waka nodded in thanks and stepped through the doorway with no idea what to expect. The first thing he noticed was that the room, though very large, had little decoration aside from the burning incense that filled it with a smoky, flowery smell. Eddies of wind swirled the scent throughout the room, somehow making him feel instantly calmer. Instead of a back wall, all he could see was a red screen, obscuring the rest of the chamber from view. A solitary person knelt on the floor, deep in prayer, her robes fanned out around her. A circle—like the full moon—glowed softly against the screen. A minute passed, and then she stood up, turning towards him. The glow, which Waka had almost mistaken for an emblem, faded. Some sort of light behind the screen?

"Pass on the message to the guards. The gates may close now." The priestess standing at the doorway bowed, first to her and then to Waka, and hurried away. The woman turned to Waka and smiled in greeting.

"Welcome, Ushiwaka of the Moon Tribe. I am Queen Seinaru." Waka started.

"How do you know…?"

"I am not only this city's ruler but also its priestess." She gestured around at the room, "This is the temple's largest prayer room. Here, I can focus the powers granted to me from a life of prayer. With my gifts, I saw that you, a skilled warrior, would arrive here." Waka felt a glimmer of pride at her words. The Queen gave another small smile and continued.

"It took some amount of focus to send a divine wind to aid in your battle against the demon." This Queen… had summoned the wind? Shin was the only one he knew who had that sort of power—he felt an involuntary pang of sadness at the mention, quickly swept away as the name was gusted from his mind. The Queen continued. "This city will be safe from the demons with you as our ally." Waka remembered why he had set off towards the city in the first place.

"There is a powerful demon that recently came to this world. There's a sword that is key to defeating it…" He described the sword. The Queen gave a knowing nod.

"I have seen such a demon. A giant serpent of eight heads, tall as a mountain. It has not attacked our city, and I do not think it will for a very long time. I do not know of this sword, though. Perhaps it lies elsewhere…" She frowned, a waft of guilt found its way into Waka's thoughts. "Our city needs you here. I ask only for you to pass on your training so that we may protect ourselves from these demons." The Ark's demons. Of course. Any city would need as much protection as it could get. And, seeing the sincerity in the Queen's eyes, Waka could find nothing in him to refuse.

"Of course. I promise, I will protect this city." _I'll fight all of the demons myself if I have to. _The Queen smiled, and for a second Waka became aware of the gentle breeze blowing through the room.

"Sei'An City is honored to have you as a protector. Oh, and…" She picked up an object laying in the corner of the room, and offered it to him. "This is for you. I do not know the full extent of its effects, but it should give you the ability to cross the gap once the bridge has been lifted. Some of our greatest dangers may lie outside the city." As Waka accepted the object—a headdress of some sort, trailing white fabric—he felt a strange feeling of anticipation. The headpiece was the head of a hawk, a bird of prey. Was that what he was to be? Waka thought of his sword, still stained with the blood of one demon and soon many more.

"I will not fail you."

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><p><span>Extra Scene- Kamiki Village<span>

Far away, in a small village known as Kamiki, Orochi landed. First the air itself seemed to grow darker, a shadow passing over the village caused by no mere cloud. People abandoned their farmwork to look at the sky, the sun blocked by in the gargantuan body of Orochi. They ran, towards the only way out of the village, between two cliffs, but Orochi landed there with a crash, crushing any houses in the way, blocking the villagers' escape. One of the heads, with red and orange adorning it, began to hiss out words.

**Oh, little insects, what will you do to save yourselves? To save your village?** An elderly villager began to step forward, slowly, but at another snarl from one of the other heads he quickly stepped back into the crowd. The heads hissed in delight. **Yesss, good. Fear me, the great Yamata no Orochi. **One head bared its teeth in anticipation. **I hunger for a sacrifice.** **Each year, on the first full moon of spring, my arrow will choose a maiden. She must come to the Moon Cave. Fail to bring me a maiden…** One of the heads, with an earthy coloring, smashed down another house. **And I will bring my full wrath down upon this village.** With this and one last leer at one of the villager women, Orochi lifted off into the sky.


	8. Breeze

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Last chapter, Waka makes it to the city to find that the queen was expecting him. He also accepted the job of going around killing demons on her orders, which means there's going to be a few chapters at the temple. And we also had our first, completely useless, extra scene! Hooray!**

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><p>Under the cover of darkness Waka stalked towards the shack. The wind rustled through the grass, disguising the soft sounds of his footsteps.<p>

The Queen had seen a dangerous demon living here, so close to humans, and so he had gone alone. The other troopers were still learning the sword and would be only a hindrance.

As he watched from the shadows, a person stepped out, looking around. The bright gibbous moon above shone down like the gaze of a giant, casting long shadows across the ground. Waka caught sight of the person's shadow, thrashing in distorted, inhuman shapes, and his eyes narrowed. He needed no further proof that this was a demon in disguise. Stepping from the darkness, he drew his sword. The person's head jerked to face him, and the eyes flared red light. Waka dashed towards it, unsheathing his sword as the demonic barrier erupted around them.

A Crow Tengu soared above him, gliding in circles with its fans. Waka crouched, adjusting his headdress, and jumped, his sword tearing slices in the Tengu's fans. It flapped uselessly for a moment, its own wings hardly breaking its fall. Waka landed on his feet and charged the Tengu, his sword raised to deliver a final blow. There was the sinking sound as the strike landed, and the hiss of the demon's last rattling breath. As the demon's body bloomed into a patch of flowers, Waka wiped his sword clean and sheathed it. He would have to clarify with the Queen exactly what she had meant by "a dangerous demon". He set off along the footpath on the long walk back to the city.

It was strange that the Tengu, like the Crow Tengu who had given him his sword long ago, would ever be his enemy. Perhaps there was some mistake… Waka banished the thought. The plague had been labeled incurable, and it had taken hold in the Tengus' minds until they lashed out like animals at anyone who came near. Killing them would be an act of mercy to the wise mentors they had once been. The moon still stared down at him, and with unease lurking on the fringes of his consciousness he walked on.

* * *

><p>Upon his arrival, Waka immediately headed to the Queen's prayer room, where she would be waiting for his report.<p>

He was greeted by an empty room.

Waka looked around. The incense was unlit, any last traces of smokiness had not lingered in the room. There was a faint outline of a person behind the screen. He paused.

_No matter what happens, _the Queen's instructions had been,_ you are never to go behind the screen. _Waka turned to leave. He'd just have to report in the morning…

_Come back. _A whisper of Waka's native language made him stop and look back into the room. Who could possibly…? _You want to see? Come here… _It sounded like the wind itself had spoken. He stepped back into the room, moving towards the screen. The whispers grew louder.

"No," the Queen's voice, oddly weak, cut through the wind. "I cannot do such a thing. I will not." The wind formed the soft syllables of a sigh. Waka didn't notice how he had stepped from the doorway to the center of the room. He couldn't notice anything but the sounds, the wind. So beautiful. He had to see where it came from. "I cannot keep doing this." The Queen's voice was firm, but there was a desperate note in it. "I—" There was a gasp, then a choked moan. Waka flinched, his hand straying towards his sword.

_The Queen is in danger._ The thought went through his mind as swift as a breeze. The wind was growing louder, a song in his ears.

Waka pulled back the screen, and the moment he did so the murmurs cut away into silence. Behind the screen, a huge crystal sphere loomed over, making the collapsed form of the Queen look even smaller.

"Queen Seinaru?" The whisperings returned, faintly, enticing him forward. "Are you alright?" She looked up from the floor weakly.

"Get away from me." Waka hesitated, but the terror in her eyes pleaded for him to leave.

He nodded and quickly left the room. Then cold realization washed over him. He had just broken one of the Queen's few rules, and probably her trust… Waka changed direction, realizing that he was heading to the training area. The troopers wouldn't be there. They would be sleeping—quite inconvenient, and it left him with little to do.

_Where were those whispers coming from?_ Waka shook his head, trying to push the thought away. It didn't matter. The Queen was allowed her privacy. But still, how could whatever thing the whispers came from know the language of the Moon Tribe? Did some strange spirit haunt the temple?

Why couldn't he stop thinking about it?


	9. Gust

**Summary: ****The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Last chapter, Waka is off killing demons, then realizes that something suspicious is going on… Something windy….**

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><p>It was always so quiet at this time of night. The moon had retreated behind a blanket of clouds, and the stars glittered faintly where they peeked through.<p>

Waka paced around the temple's courtyard, examining his flute by the dim blue light of the Water Tablet. Perhaps lending it to the queen had been a bad idea… She had wanted to look at it—perhaps see if its design could be copied for the other soldiers—and the flute had been returned with scratches, and places where chips of the bamboo had been dug out.

When he tipped it a certain way, the scratches almost seemed to resemble words…

_But "Pillowtalk" isn't a word, is it?_ Waka stopped his examining, relieved. None of the scratches had completely cut through the flute, so its sound would be unharmed. He looked around the courtyard. There was something else he wanted to test.

The courtyard was empty except for him. His finger easily found the hidden button on the flute's surface. Remembering Sugawara's instructions from when he had first received the flute, Waka positioned himself so that nothing was between the flute's end and the ground, and pressed the button. A blade of light slowly extended from the flute's end, humming faintly.

Waka put away the Water Tablet—the green-tinted light of the flute was enough—and assumed a fighting stance, drawing the sword at his belt with the other hand. He began one of the Tao forms, slashing, parrying. The blade didn't flicker with the movement. Undamaged as far as he could tell. Waka finished the form and paused to rest, considering which form to practice next. The Tao form, the creation of a sole author named Hachiman, had more than enough dual-wielding forms for his practice.

A night wind whispered around him. The blade made a loud, disagreeable buzz and distorted for a moment. Waka frowned. Behind him, something flapped quietly in the wind, and he turned to look, hastily deactivating the blade.

_Queen Seinaru…?_ She walked oddly, her feet so close together that he worried she might trip. How long had she been walking around the courtyard? Her eyes wandered over to Waka and suddenly the air went suffocatingly still. Around him the wind seemed almost tangible, probing.

Then the breeze returned to normal, whooshing away from him, again gusting around the queen's draping sleeves. Something glinted in the faint moonlight before it was obscured again by the sleeves. Something metal. Seinaru continued her walk, back into the temple.

Waka watched her disappear inside, then quietly, carefully, he followed. As he entered the temple, he remembered the young princess, staying in a room just down the corridor…

The room where the queen's form had just gone.

"Is someone there?" The princess's bleary voice traveled faintly down the hall. Waka began to walk faster, a feeling of unease pushing his steps. "…Mother?" A quiet gasp, and Waka hurried down the rest of the hallway, hand already reaching for his sword. The queen stood over the princess, a gleaming knife raised. Ready to kill.

The moment he entered the room something seemed to change. An outtake of air whooshed past the doorway. The queen crumpled backwards and Waka caught her, slipping the knife from her limp hand. Just a cutting knife, not meant for battle.

A chip of bamboo slid off the blade. Waka frowned. Had she…?

"Where…?" The queen's eyes fluttered open, taking in the room. Then she looked up at Waka and flinched away, letting out a tiny squeak of surprise.

"Queen Seinaru, are you all right?" The queen stood up and backed away, looking towards the doorway. "You tried to attack the princess." Waka showed her the knife, but she didn't step towards him to take it. He wasn't sure he'd even be able to give it to her if she had.

"I-I believe whatever possessed me has gone. My apologies for disturbing you." The queen hurriedly bowed to them and scurried from the room. Waka looked back at the princess, curled up on her tatami mat, rocking back and forth. She motioned for him to leave. He hesitated, but left, his mind already drifting back to Tao forms.

When he stepped back into the courtyard, the Queen was standing there, looking down at the grass.

"Queen Seinaru…" She looked over at him and quickly spoke.

"I have managed to divine Orochi's location. It is within the cave on Lake Harami, in Shinshu Field. During the Spring Festival, I would like you to scout the area, and see why Orochi might have settled there." Waka nodded. The Spring Festival—about a moon's cycle away—would be the perfect cover. No one would notice or interfere.

"Um… Queen Seinaru…" The queen tensed. Waka took out his flute and showed her the scratches. "Do you have any idea what these mean?"

"Y-you should go to sleep. It's quite late." She looked… embarrassed?

"But—" By the time he spoke she was already hurrying away.

_But I don't know how…_ Nonetheless, Waka headed back to his quarters. He'd practiced enough, anyway.

* * *

><p>Waka lay down on the mat and closed his eyes, trying to mimic the pose of sleep.<p>

_Do I just… lay here?_ Slowly, he became less aware of his surroundings, less sensitive to his limbs. It was almost like a numbness had crept through them...

_Ah… It's just like meditation._ Waka let his mind relax. He asked nothing, no visions, and nothing was what washed over him in answer.


	10. Penumbra

**Summary: The city of the Moon is attacked, setting off a chain of events that reach far beyond its source. One of the survivors journeys across Nippon, trying to stop what his people have released.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Okami, it belongs to Capcom and Clover. Okamiden also belongs to Capcom.**

**Last chapter, there was even more windy intrigue. This chapter… well, more wind, hopefully less intrigue/confusion. Especially less confusion…**

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><p><em>Waka, help us…<em>

_I can't… I can't move…_

_So much blood…_

Waka awoke with blood pounding in his ears.

He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. It wasn't real. It was just a dream.

Except it wasn't. Waka had been there in the Moon Cave, he'd been in the Ark. He'd heard the Celestials scream and watched the Orochi tear its first sacrifice apart and devour her.

He tried to think about something else. The troopers were improving rapidly, and soon they would be ready for their first missions. He had to keep up with them. After making a habit of sleeping during the night, he'd lost some of his training time. Waka tried to push away the nightmarish images. Perhaps he shouldn't have learned how to sleep…

_No. Stop thinking about it_. Get up. Put on the headdress. Get ready for training. The troopers were waiting in the building next door… The Queen was planning to implement some sort of Moon Tribe technology into it. Waka walked over at the Water Tablet, glowing at him in patterns of circuit diagrams and blueprints, and put it into sleep mode. It was difficult to recall any of the engineering that he had learned, and only the slight familiarity of his own notations convinced him that he had ever learned it at all.

For a minute Waka wondered if he should consult with the Queen. Or at least ask why she'd been avoiding him so much over the past few months, or why whenever she passed by he could hear airy laughter drift through the air… He hadn't seen her at all the last few days. Or maybe he shouldn't ask anything personal, but at least for some new Tao forms…

Waka decided against it. He picked up his flute and began to head down the hallways, out towards the training building.

As he passed by the entrance to the throne room, he heard a breath of wind and froze. The Queen said it was gone, that the strange spirit had left her… But it hadn't left. Whispers swept through the room, tugging him forward.

_The Queen… _Waka struggled to put the thought together. His mind seemed hazy, so blurry, ready to let go. _If she is in there…_ Let go, give up the wind… _No... I shouldn't._ Whatever this was, he couldn't let it win over him. Waka forced his focus onto the Queen. Inside the throne room. Ignore the wind. Behind the red screen…

He flinched and closed his eyes. He didn't want to go towards that screen, didn't want to look at it, not when the red swam through his vision like blood, so much like blood and bodies and death...

_You have to._ Waka stepped over to the screen, keeping his eyes focused on the wall. He pushed it back, stepped into the room and looked around.

The Queen's limp body floated in the center of the room. Her eyes were open but staring almost lifelessly, her head lolled towards him. As Waka stepped closer, her eyes widened, as if a warning—

The sudden gust of wind flooded his senses, sending him reeling.

Seinaru fell to the floor with a thud. Waka saw her lift herself from the ground—alive—and then the whispers swelled again and he froze. As he watched, the wind swirled, coalescing in one place—visible as it shaped into a female form. The form was translucent, its outline constantly shifting from one form to the next. Fascinated, he stopped to watch it.

"Don't let her touch you!" Seinaru shouted, and Waka's head cleared. The figure offhandedly made a motion towards her, and the queen made a choking sound, her hands flying to her throat.

_Don't listen to her. I know what you really want… _Waka paused, trying to understand exactly what it was he supposedly wanted. Perhaps if he waited it would just explain itself…

"Shattered by lightning from another world… Why did I ever believe your lies?" Seinaru forced the words out, struggling to inhale. "I healed you, I let you in, and you…"

_Oh, shush. _Her voice died away, not a breath left to speak. _I wouldn't lie… You, however…_ The spirit shook its head in disapproval and turned away from her. The queen's breath returned, but she stayed silent, inching towards the crystal orb.

The spirit leaned forward, its face unnervingly close. Too close. Panicked, Waka activated his flute and slashed, but the blade distorted and vibrated loudly as it passed through. The spirit laughed, a light, airy laugh.

_Silly Waka… You know that trick won't work on me. _He found the strength to jump away as it reached up a hand for his face. _Come on, just tell me where it is… _From the corner of his eye, Waka could see the queen, kneeling before the crystal orb as if in prayer. What was she… No, he had to trust that she knew what she was doing. As he watched, the crystal orb began to glow. The spirit pressed him, slowly moving forward as if caught in a headwind.

_There's no reason to resist, where is it? _Seinaru stood, palms pointed towards the spirit, and then the orb flashed. Blinding light burst through the room, and Waka could make out the figure as it split and dissolved into the wind. When the light faded, there was only silence. The air no longer carried hints of any presence.

The spirit had been shattered again. Seinaru lowered her hands, now trembling, mumbling reassuring words to herself. Hesitantly, Waka went over to her.

"She kept me trapped for so long…" Her voice was quiet again, trying to disguise any quaver. Seinaru took another deep breath. "It's not done yet. Something else is coming, something greater than this spirit…"

Just as she spoke, the light that streamed in began to disappear. All around, the world began to darken in an unnatural night.

* * *

><p>Extra Scene-<p>

The breeze blew gently through the grass, wafting the scent of flowers across the Plain. Waka had gone far from the rest of the Moon Tribe—or Celestials, as a few of them called themselves now—to tell Sugawara what had just happened.

"It's the first clear vision I've had since we arrived."

"This is significant, then. Visions have grown very infrequent since we left the Moon…" Sugawara began to make notes on his Water Tablet. "Tell me what you saw." Waka closed his eyes, remembering.

"I think it showed somewhere on the planet… There was some sort of shrine. It looked sort of like Moon Tribe construct, but I could tell it wasn't… Somehow." Waka shrugged. "The surroundings were shown in detail. Maybe when this shrine is created, I'll be able to find it…" Suddenly the wind gusted away, and Waka glanced around, noticing the feel of a presence that had once been there. Was someone watching them…?

"Perhaps you can find it, but you might not be able to travel, or you may forget details. I will record the location details in the Ark." Sugawara looked up at Waka intently. "Tell me what you saw."


End file.
